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Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri | |
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| Abbreviation | FSSP |
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| Formation | July 18, 1988; 37 years ago (1988-07-18) |
| Founder | Fr.Josef Bisig |
| Type | Society of apostolic life ofpontifical right (for men) |
| Headquarters | Maison Saint Pierre Canisius,Fribourg,Switzerland |
| Coordinates | 46°48′17″N7°09′37″E / 46.804796°N 7.160385°E /46.804796; 7.160385 |
| Membership | 583[1] • 386 priests • 201 seminarians (2024) |
Superior General | Fr.John Berg |
| Website | www |
ThePriestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (Latin:Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri;FSSP) is atraditionalist Catholicsociety of apostolic life for priests and seminarians. It isin communion with theHoly See. It was founded in 1988 by 12 former members of theSociety of Saint Pius X (SSPX) who left following theÉcône consecrations, which resulted in the SSPX bishops beingexcommunicated by theHoly See.
Headquartered in Switzerland, the society maintains two international seminaries: theInternational Seminary of St. Peter inWigratzbad-Opfenbach,Bavaria, Germany, andOur Lady of Guadalupe Seminary inDenton, Nebraska, United States. The society is officially recognized by the Holy See and has 368 priests who celebrate theTridentine Mass in locations in 147 worldwide dioceses.
According tocanon law, the FSSP is a clericalsociety of apostolic life of pontifical right.[2] It is not, therefore, aninstitute of consecrated life and members take no religious vows, but are instead bound by the same general laws of celibacy and obedience asdiocesan clergy and, in addition, swear an oath as members of the society.[2] The fraternity'spontifical right status means that it has been established by thePope and is answerable only to him in terms of its operation (through theDicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; prior to January 17, 2019, through thePontifical CommissionEcclesia Dei), rather than to local bishops.[3] A local bishop still governs the fraternity's work within his respective diocese.[citation needed] In this sense its organization and administrative reporting status are similar to those of religious orders of pontifical right (for example, theJesuits orDominicans).
On 28 September 2024, theDicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life informed the FSSP that it had opened anapostolic visitation. According to the Fraternity, this is intended to "enable the Dicastery to know who we are, how we are doing and how we live, so as to provide us with any help we may need."[4]
The FSSP consists of priests andseminarians who intend to pursue the goal of Christian perfection according to a specificcharism, which is to offer theMass and othersacraments according to theRoman Rite as it existed before the liturgical reforms that followed theSecond Vatican Council.[5] Thus, the fraternity uses theRoman Missal, the RomanBreviary, thePontifical (Pontificale Romanum), and theRoman Ritual in use in 1962, the last editions before the revisions that followed the Council.
The 2007motu proprioSummorum Pontificum had authorized use of the1962 Roman Missal by allLatin Church priests as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite without limit when celebrating Mass "without a congregation".[6] Its use for Mass with a congregation was allowed with the permission of the priest in charge of a church for stable groups attached to this earlier form of theRoman Rite, provided that the priest using it was "qualified to do so and not juridically impeded" (as for instance by suspension).[7] That was abrogated by the 2021motu proprioTraditionis custodes that emphasized deference towards theMass of Paul VI and added restrictions to which clergy could perform the Roman Rite according to the pre-Vatican II form.[8][9]
On 4 February 2022, two priests of the fraternity were received by Pope Francis in private audience, who subsequently issued a decree confirming that the FSSP could continue to celebrate the traditional liturgy publicly in their own churches or oratories, or anywhere else with the consent of the local ordinary.[10][11] The decree was dated 11 February 2022, the Feast ofOur Lady of Lourdes and coincidentally the same day that the FSSP consecrated themselves to theImmaculate Heart of Mary after anine-day novena.[12][13] On 29 February 2024, the Superior General of the FSSP, Fr. Andrzej Komorowski, was received in private audience by Pope Francis, who assured them that the FSSP would continue to enjoy the right to celebrate the traditional liturgy.[14][15]
Following from its charism, the fraternity's mission is twofold: to sanctify each priest through the exercise of his priestly function, and to deploy these priests to parishes.[2][16] As such, they are to celebrate the sacraments, catechize, preach retreats, organizepilgrimages, and generally provide a full sacramental and cultural life for lay Catholics who are likewise drawn to the rituals of the 1962 missal.[2] In order to help complete its mission, the fraternity has built its ownseminaries with the goal of forming men to serve the fraternity.
For the honour and glory of the holy Catholic Church, for the consolation of the much troubled faithful, and for the peace of their conscience, the undersigned, members until now of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, declare with profound regret over the illicit consecration of bishops on 30 June [1988] that they have remained within the Catholic Church aspars sanior of this same Fraternity, and that they have but one desire: to be able to live as a religious society in this Church and place themselves at her service under the authority, of course, of the Roman Pontiff, her supreme head.
— From theDeclaration of Intention by the Founders (2 July 1988)[17]
The FSSP was established on July 18, 1988, at the Abbey ofHauterive, Switzerland, by twelve priests and twenty seminarians, led byJosef Bisig, all of whom had formerly belonged to ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre'sSociety of Saint Pius X; they were unwilling to follow that movement into what theCongregation for Bishops andPope John Paul II declared to be aschismatic act and grounds forexcommunicationlatae sententiae due to theconsecration of four bishops without a papal mandate.[2][18][19] Fr. Josef Bisig became the fraternity's first superior general.
As of November 2023[update], the fraternity included 569 members: 368 priests, 22 deacons, and 179 non-deacon seminarians in 146 dioceses spread among Australia, Austria, Benin, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, the United States, and Vietnam. The fraternity's membership represents 35 nationalities, and the average age of its members is 39. As of 2023[update], thelayConfraternity of Saint Peter had 9,546 members enrolled, who spiritually support the fraternity's charism.[20]
The FSSP's current superior general isFr. John Berg, who was elected to a third (non-consecutive) term as superior general on July 9, 2024.[21] Former superiors general include:
The fraternity is divided into four districts:[22]
The fraternity has two seminaries:
Ezechiel House, a house of formation for first-year seminarians, exists in the city of Sydney, Australia. The Director of Ezechiel House is Fr. Duncan Wong.
In 2015, the fraternity established in Guadalajara, Mexico, Casa Cristo Rey, an apostolate which it plans to develop into a house of formation for first-year seminarians for native Spanish-speaking postulants. Presently, Casa Cristo Rey serves as a priestly discernment program for young men from Spain and Latin America.[23] In 2016 Casa Cristo Rey opened the Junipero Serra Spanish Institute, a program offering six or eight weeks of Spanish immersion for priests and seminarians.[24]
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